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We’re looking for a creative, insightful and passionate person to join us as a Senior Research Officer.

The successful candidate will drive forward research projects, taking responsibility for producing compelling findings, recommendations and high-quality written outputs as well as managing key stakeholder relationships and developing your personal profile as a subject matter expert. You will also line manage one of our Research Officers, with responsibility for setting their objectives and supporting their development.

We are looking for someone with demonstrable relevant experience, but it does not have to have been gained in the charity or policy sector. If you have a different background, but think you could excel in the role, we encourage you to consider applying!

Key Responsibilities

•  Research and Policy

  • Develop and maintain knowledge of policy matters relating to the work of Money and Mental Health, especially in relation to employment and welfare policy

  • Work collaboratively with colleagues on multi-disciplinary research projects, including working concurrently on multiple projects

  • Lead on designing, organising, and conducting mixed-methods research projects end to end, including:

    • Project and stakeholder management

    • Rapid and in-depth literature reviews

    • Design, organise, conduct and analyse surveys, interviews and focus groups

    • Undertake quantitative analysis of large datasets

    • Develop and test policy recommendations

    • Support for other project team members

  • Draft and edit wide range of written outputs including:

    • Research reports

    • Policy notes

    • Consultation responses

    • Presentations and briefings

    • Blogs and other online content

  • Represent Money and Mental Health externally, including:

    • Developing and maintaining relations with key stakeholders and counterparts in partner organisations

    • Building a personal profile and representing Money and Mental Health at external events and in the media 

  • Support the Mental Health Accessible team with drafting and analysing surveys, conducting focus groups and other activities as required.

  • Support day-to-day management of the Research Community, including editing communications, designing research tasks and monitoring performance

  • Contribute to the development of Research and Policy Team plans

  • Organise, contribute to and lead team discussions on policy development 

• Line Management

  • Line manage one Research Officer including:

    • Setting annual objectives and monitoring performance

    • Holding regular 1-2-1s and check-ins

    • Supporting on progression and development

• Organisational

  • Work closely with the Fundraising team on the development of new funding proposals

  • Work closely with the External Affairs team on the development of advocacy and outreach materials

  • Help monitor and analyse the political and policy environment to identify opportunities for Money and Mental Health to have impact

  • Contribute to the organisation’s growth and planning, including the EDI strategy

  • Provide support for any other Money and Mental Health activities as required by the Research and Policy Manager

About you

We're looking for someone who is ready to step into a Senior Research Officer role in a high-performing team. You should be analytical as well as compassionate. Below are some of the experiences and skills that we’re looking for. If you don’t have all of these, don’t let that put you off applying.

• Research and policy skills

  • Intellectual curiosity, the ability to think creatively and develop innovative policy and practice solutions, with an understanding of strategic opportunities to create change 

  • Excellent skills in quantitative research -  confident ability to locate, understand, analyse and interpret data, including analysis of large datasets using statistical software packages or languages e.g. Stata, Python

  • Excellent skills in qualitative research - ability to organise and conduct interviews, focus groups and surveys, to design research materials and to analyse qualitative data

  • The ability to think creatively and develop innovative policy and practice solutions, with an understanding of strategic opportunities to create change

• Written work and influencing

  • Excellent ability to construct compelling written narratives

  • Good editorial skills and the ability to review and give constructive feedback on others' work

  • Strong presentation skills and the ability to speak persuasively to different audiences

• Project management and team working

  • The skills and emotional intelligence to work cooperatively and collaboratively with team members on projects 

  • Excellent organisational skills to meet deadlines reliably and plan work effectively

• Stakeholder management

  • Strong networking skills and the ability to develop and maintain professional contacts

  • Strong interpersonal skills and the ability to represent Money and Mental Health to external organisations

• Knowledge

  • Strong awareness and knowledge about of at least some of the key issues that Money and Mental health researches and campaigns on

  • Desirable: Excellent, in-depth knowledge about debt, welfare or employment policy

Terms

• Reporting to: Research and Policy Manager

• Staff supervised: One Research Officer

• Annual Gross Salary: £43,752 (employees who are not London-based receive the same salary, including London weighting, but cover their own travel costs to the office, typically twice a month)

• Location: Either London-based, with two days per week in Money and Mental Health’s East London office, or home-based with the ability to travel to London at least twice per month. The role will also require some travel for meetings and events.

• Hours: Both full-time and part-time applicants considered, at a minimum of four days per week. Job shares, consolidated hours and other flexible working arrangements will be considered. Please indicate your preferred working hours on application.

• Contract type: Permanent

• Holidays: 28 days per year (including 3 days between Christmas and New Year when the office is closed), plus bank holidays

• Pension: Opportunity to be enrolled in the workplace pension scheme (subject to meeting standard auto-enrolment qualifying criteria). After enrolment, the charity contributes the equivalent of 5.5% of monthly gross salary, subject to an employee contribution of at least 2.5%.

• Other benefits:

  • Every team member has a personal training budget, with many internal training opportunities.

  • Cycle to Work and season ticket loan schemes.

  • Enhanced maternity/paternity/shared parental and adoption pay terms

  • Rental deposit loan scheme.

  • Employee Assistance Programme